The Most Dangerous Myths of Mental Health

Psalm 88

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

Today we are beginning a new series of messages entitled “Peace of Mind.”

Over the next several weeks, we are going to examine what the Bible teaches about our thoughts, emotions, burdens, and inward struggles.

We will consider subjects such as anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, emotional exhaustion, and the battles that sometimes take place where no one else can see them.

We will seek to understand what Scripture says while recognizing that God created us as whole people with bodies, minds, emotions, relationships, and spiritual needs.

We will talk honestly about difficult experiences, but we will never speak as people who have no hope.

The title of this series is not “A Troubled Mind,” but “Peace of Mind.”

That peace is not found by pretending that our struggles do not exist.

It is found as we bring the truth of what we are experiencing into the presence of the God of peace.

My prayer is that those who are struggling will discover that they do not need to hide in shame, that those who are helping will learn to listen with greater compassion, and that all of us will grow in our confidence that God is both willing and able to help us.

Before we can explore particular struggles, however, we must confront several dangerous myths that often keep hurting people silent.

It can be difficult to admit that your mind will not slow down.

It can be frightening to tell someone that you feel overwhelmed by anxiety.

It can be embarrassing to confess that you cannot seem to climb out of discouragement.

It can be painful to explain that something from the past still affects you today.

It can be especially difficult in church because Christians sometimes believe that faithful believers should never experience such struggles.

We know the right things to say.

We say, “God is good.”

We say, “I’m trusting the Lord.”

We say, “Everything is fine.”

Those statements may be sincere, but sometimes we use them as a shield behind which we hide.

We fear that honesty will sound like unbelief.

We fear that people will judge us, correct us, dismiss us, or treat us differently.

Therefore, we smile, shake hands, and say that we are fine while carrying a burden that is quietly crushing us.

The Bible never teaches us to live dishonestly.

It does not tell us to pretend that darkness feels like light or that pain does not hurt.

Instead, Scripture gives us examples of faithful people who spoke honestly about their suffering.

Psalm 88 is one of the darkest psalms in the Bible.

Its writer was Heman the Ezrahite.

Heman was not a careless, faithless man who knew nothing about God.

He was wise, gifted, and faithful, yet he experienced profound darkness.

He wrote, “For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.”

He said, “I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength.”

The psalm closes with the startling words, “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.”

There is no quick emotional resolution at the end of this psalm.

Nevertheless, Heman began by saying, “O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee.”

He felt surrounded by darkness, but he was still crying to the God of his salvation.

His honest struggle was not the absence of faith. His cry to God was an expression of faith in the middle of his struggle.

Our other text is 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24:

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

These verses remind us that God cares for the whole person and that our hope rests in His faithfulness.

The burden of this message is simple: Christians do not need to hide their mental and emotional struggles, because honest struggle is not the absence of faith, and the faithful God of peace can meet, sustain, guide, and help the whole person.

I. Faithful People Can Face Real Struggles

The first dangerous myth is that faithful Christians should never struggle mentally or emotionally.

If someone experiences fear, depression, trauma, exhaustion, or emotional distress, we may assume that he must have failed spiritually.

Heman’s testimony shows us that this assumption is not biblical.

A. Struggle Does Not Automatically Reveal Spiritual Failure

The presence of a battle does not prove the absence of faith.

A Christian may struggle with fear without choosing a life of unbelief.

A Christian may experience depression without rejecting the goodness of God.

A Christian may suffer traumatic reactions without deliberately refusing to trust the Lord.

A Christian may feel emotionally overwhelmed while still taking the next faithful step.

We must distinguish between struggling and surrendering.

Sometimes faith looks like standing confidently on the mountain and declaring the goodness of God.

At other times, faith looks like reaching toward God from the bottom of a pit.

Sometimes faith sings loudly.

Sometimes faith can only whisper, “Lord, help me.”

Heman did not understand what God was doing.

He did not hide his confusion or minimize his pain.

Yet he continued to address the Lord as the “God of my salvation.”

Faith is not always the absence of emotional struggle.

Sometimes faith is continuing to reach toward God in the middle of it.

B. Struggles Do Not Always Have the Same Source

Another mistake is assuming that every mental or emotional struggle has one simple cause.

Sometimes sin contributes to our distress and must be confessed.

Sometimes suffering must be endured.

Sometimes grief must be processed.

Sometimes physical illness must be treated.

Sometimes false beliefs must be corrected.

Sometimes deep wounds require patient, compassionate care.

Elijah’s experience in 1 Kings 19 demonstrates the importance of considering the whole person.

After the great victory on Mount Carmel, Elijah fled from Jezebel, sat beneath a juniper tree, and requested that he might die.

The Lord did not begin by rebuking him.

God gave him sleep, food, water, and time.

Later, God spoke truth, corrected his mistaken conclusions, gave him work to do, and reminded him that he was not alone.

God cared for Elijah physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.

First Thessalonians 5:23 refers to the “whole spirit and soul and body.”

We should not force modern categories into Paul’s words, but we should recognize that God cares about the entire person.

We are not merely bodies, but neither are we spirits floating above physical limitations.

Exhaustion affects us.

Chronic pain affects us.

Hormonal changes, illness, medication, grief, trauma, and prolonged stress can affect how we think and feel.

That does not make Scripture less necessary.

It helps us apply Scripture more carefully.

That leads us from recognizing the struggle to removing the shame that often keeps it concealed.

II. Shame Must Not Keep Us From God

Some people hide their struggle from others because they fear judgment, but they also try to hide from God because they feel ashamed.

They think, “I should not feel this way. God must be disappointed in me. If I were a better Christian, I would not be struggling.”

A. God Already Knows Our Deepest Thoughts

Psalm 139:2 KJV

2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.

Our honesty does not inform God; it opens our hearts before the God who already knows us completely.

Yet God is not frightened by our honesty.

Heman said, “My soul is full of troubles.”

These statements are preserved in inspired Scripture.

God allowed us to hear the unfiltered cries of hurting people so that we would understand that lament has a place in the life of faith.

Biblical faith does not require us to pretend that darkness feels like light.

It teaches us to speak honestly to God from within the darkness.

B. God Invites Us to Come for Grace

Hebrews 4:15–16 KJV

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Notice that we do not come because we have overcome every weakness.

We come because we need mercy and grace.

God does not say, “Fix yourself, calm yourself, and then come to Me.”

He invites needy people to come for help.

The word “boldly” does not mean arrogantly.

It means that we may come freely and openly because Jesus Christ has made the way.

You can tell God, “I am afraid.”

You can tell Him, “I am angry.”

You can tell Him, “I do not understand.”

You can tell Him, “I know what the Bible says, but I am struggling to believe it right now.”

That honesty is not the end of the process.

We bring our thoughts under God’s truth, but we begin by telling Him where we truly are.

Isaiah 26:3 KJV

3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.

It is an invitation to keep bringing the wandering, wounded, or troubled mind back to the faithful character of God.

Sometimes that happens in one decisive moment.

Often it happens repeatedly, one thought, one prayer, and one day at a time.

Honesty says, “This is where I really am.”

Hope says, “But this is not where God must leave me.”

God invites us to be honest about where we are without becoming hopeless about where we can be.

God frequently provides part of His help through other people, which means shame must not keep us from God and fear must not keep us isolated from His people.

III. Fear Must Not Keep Us From Others

Galatians 6:2 KJV

2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

A burden cannot be shared if it must remain hidden.

That does not mean telling everything to everyone.

Wisdom chooses mature and trustworthy people.

But God did not design His children to carry every burden alone.

A. Hurting People Must Be Given Permission to Speak

Some people remain silent because they have learned that honesty is dangerous.

Perhaps they attempted to share something before and were dismissed.

Someone told them, “That is not a big deal.”

Someone compared their pain with another person’s greater suffering.

Someone questioned whether they had caused the abuse or secretly wanted what happened.

Someone hurried to correct them without ever listening to their story.

Pain does not become less real because it is outside our experience.

Our lack of experience does not invalidate his experience.

People need to know that the church is a place where they can say, “I am not all right,” without immediately being treated as spiritually suspect.

If we want hurting people to speak honestly, we must become people who can listen patiently.

B. Helping People Must Listen Before Correcting

Proverbs 18:13 KJV

13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, It is folly and shame unto him.

Too often, we hear one sentence and immediately begin diagnosing.

Even when our words contain truth, they may be offered before we understand what the person is actually saying.

We can correct the wrong problem, overlook serious suffering, or confirm the person’s fear that honesty is unsafe.

James 1:19 KJV

19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

Listening is not merely remaining silent while waiting for our turn to talk.

It means asking careful questions, resisting premature conclusions, and listening for what lies beneath the first words.

Someone may say, “I do not think God cares,” but underneath that statement may be years of unanswered prayer, spiritual mistreatment, unbearable grief, or shame over a struggle that has not disappeared.

If we immediately answer, “Of course God cares,” we have stated a biblical truth, but we may have failed to minister to the person.

That gives us a healthy order:

listen carefully

understand compassionately

respond truthfully

and remain faithfully.

Truth still matters.

Sin must sometimes be confronted, and false beliefs must be corrected.

But correction offered before understanding can feel like dismissal.

Biblical advice is not merely finding the correct verse as quickly as possible.

It is lovingly applying God’s truth to the actual person and the actual burden before us.

Listening is not the absence of ministry.

Listening is often the beginning of ministry.

C. Seeking Help Can Be an Act of Wisdom

Some Christians fear that asking for help demonstrates weakness or unbelief.

Depending on the nature of the struggle, help may include a pastor, a mature Christian friend, a biblical counselor, or a qualified physician.

Seeking appropriate medical help does not mean that we have abandoned prayer.

Receiving wise counseling does not mean that the Bible has failed.

Asking another believer to walk beside us does not mean that our faith is gone.

Getting help is not a sign of weakness.

It can be a sign of wisdom.

However, neither our friends, counselors, physicians, nor pastors can become our ultimate hope. They may be instruments of God’s care, but only God can be the anchor of the soul.

That brings us to the final truth upon which the entire message rests.

IV. Hope Rests in the Faithfulness of God

The second great myth is that God does not care about our mental and emotional struggles.

When relief does not come quickly, we may assume that God is absent, angry, or unconcerned.

First Thessalonians 5 directs our attention away from our ability to repair ourselves and toward the faithfulness of God.

A. The God of Peace Cares for the Whole Person

Paul calls Him “the very God of peace.”

The God of peace is at work sanctifying His people “wholly.”

God cares about what has happened to you.

He cares about what it has done within you.

He cares about the thoughts that trouble you at night and the exhaustion you hide during the day.

God’s help may come as immediate deliverance, but it may also come as sustaining grace.

It may come through Scripture, prayer, rest, wise counsel, medical treatment, supportive relationships, or strength for the next small step.

We should not limit God’s help to one method or demand that He follow our timetable.

B. The Faithful God Continues His Work

Paul says, “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

Our hope is not, “I must fix myself so that God will accept me.”

Our hope is that the God who called us is faithfully working in us.

Philippians 1:6 KJV

6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Sometimes God is preserving a struggling believer long before that believer recognizes what He is doing.

There have been seasons in my own life when disruption, loss, mistreatment, and disillusionment left me spiritually and emotionally weary.

There were times when I wanted to walk away, yet God patiently kept me near.

He used people.

He used opportunities to serve.

He used responsibilities that kept me connected when my emotions would have pulled me away.

Then, gradually, private time with God began reopening my heart.

It was not an immediate or uncomplicated recovery.

Looking back, however, I can see that God was faithfully working even when I could not recognize His hand.

You may not presently understand what God is doing.

Heman did not receive an explanation within Psalm 88.

Nevertheless, he continued to cry to “the God of my salvation.”

You may feel as though you are barely holding on to God, but the greater truth is that God is holding on to you.

That does not give us permission to remain passive.

We should pray, seek truth, receive help, confess known sin, care for our bodies, and take the next faithful step.

Yet underneath all our efforts is the preserving faithfulness of God.

Conclusion

Perhaps you have been hiding because you are ashamed of what you feel.

Today, God invites you to bring the truth into His presence.

Perhaps you have been carrying a burden alone because you fear what people will think.

Ask God to direct you to a trustworthy person and speak honestly.

Perhaps someone has trusted you with his pain.

Do not punish his honesty by correcting him before you have heard him.

Listen carefully.

Seek to understand.

Speak truth with tenderness,

and remain beside him patiently.

Church, let’s become a people before whom hurting individuals do not have to pretend.

Let us bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.

The promise of this series is not that every struggle will disappear immediately.

The promise is that no child of God must face it abandoned, unheard, or without hope.

God is not threatened by your honesty.

God is not indifferent to your suffering.

God is not finished with His work in you.

You do not have to pretend before God, and you do not have to carry this alone.

Bring Him the truth.

Invite a trustworthy person into the struggle.

Take the next wise and faithful step.

Then rest your hope in this assurance:

“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

As we come to the Lord’s Table, we’re reminded that our hope rests not in our own strength, but in the body that was broken and the blood that was shed for us.

The faithful God who meets us in our struggles is the God who loved us enough to give His Son for our salvation.

At this time, I’d like to ask the men who will be serving Communion to come forward.